Restaurant Name: AJ Burgers & Beef

Location: 124 S. River Rd, West Lafayette, IN (map it)

Phone: 765-743-1940

Cuisine:  American

Review:  A reader recently send an inquiry requesting I review AJ’s Burgers and Beef, and I aim to please! Tonight we headed over to the west side to try them out. It’s a small little shop just around the corner from the Silver Dipper, a place I spend entirely way too much time.

The restaurant is small with a few tables and chairs, a couple of small booths, and a long wall bench with high stools. You order at the counter and then they call you when the food is ready. It is small, but very clean and orderly. When we went, they were completely empty. Apparently, they have a delivery service which is available for online ordering. (They do not deliver to my area on the south side, I’m afraid.)

The menu is small, a variety of dogs, burgers, and chicken. Deep fried seems to be the order of the day. Our table ordered a range from a plain hot dog and hamburger to an Italian Sausage and a garlic cheeseburger. They offer waffle fries and regular fries. If you are looking for health food (or anything resembling a vegetable) – look elsewhere.

Mainly, my impression was just “Eh.” It was okay, but nothing special. I can’t see myself deciding to go there again. The bread for all the food was enormous, making everything too big for your mouth. The fries were a deep fried variety, very crispy but practically coated in something. The hamburgers didn’t make anyone at our table all that excited. A very mediocre visit.

And to make things worse, they only offer Pepsi products, and no, Diet Pepsi is not the same as Diet Coke.

Kid friendly: Yes.

Price Range: $3 – $7 for sandwiches

Methods of payment: Cash and Credit.

Restaurant Name: O-ishi Shabu Shabu * Noodles * Grill

Location: 213 E. State Street, West Lafayette, IN (map it)

Phone: (765) 743-3838.

Hours:Noon to 11 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 10 p.m. Sunday

Cuisine: Asian

Review: While driving through West Lafayette the other day, I noticed a new restaurant in the River Market, where Sofra, the Turkish restaurant, used to be.  So I immediately came home and started searching for more information about this place, and lo and behold, there is none!  I am willing to bet I’ll be the number one hit in Google for this restaurant very soon.

The O-ishi menu claims “The word O-ishi in Japanese means Delicious, at O-ishi we serve all kinds of delicious foods from many different places in Asia.  We picked the things that we love the most ourselves and we hope you would enjoy it too.”

And they aren’t lying, they do have quite items ranging from all over Asia, starting with the Malaysian appetizer to the Japanese noodle soups.

The restaurant itself is quite small and casual.  It has a number of small tables and some booths, and was fairly vacant when we arrived.  However, by the time we left there wasn’t an empty seat in the house.  The place was nicely decorated if a bit sparse but the furnishings were nice and the place was clean.

The menu wasn’t expansive.  It had two appetizers, some grill items like Teriyaki chicken, some noodle bowls and then their “pot platters.”  Each table has a warming unit where they bring out a pot of water.  You pick your meat and then you boil your own meat at your table. This is served with rice, vegetable, and soup.

I was really curious about the “Oishi Dango” appetizer, so I ordered what was promised to be Japenese beef, pork, and shrimp balls with chili sauce.  And they were in fact, just meat balls – two of each kind of meat.  With the chili sauce. They weren’t bad.  They were very spicy but the texture of the balls was similar to spam and kind of eeked me out.

I ordered the chicken teriyaki, which is generally a safe bet.  How hard is it to slap some teriyaki sauce on some chicken and throw it on the grill? I would give the teriyaki chicken a thumbs up, it was very tasty. My husband ordered the Shabu Noodles, which came out as a giant bowl of soup full of the same meatballs from the appetizer, Ramen noodles, some kind of boiled meat, tofu, and some vegetables.  It came with a side of dipping sauce.  Just looking at it scared me.  He ate it and said it as okay, but nothing exceptional.

What stood out at O-ishi, though, was the service.  They had one waiter for the entire restaurant.  There were only two other couples there when we arrived, and it still took forever to place our orders.  When finally the Shabu Noodles came out, my teriyaki chicken was still not ready.  The server explained it would be right out, but it was not. In fact, it was quite some time before the chicken was ready. The restaurant was also very cold and I spent the entire meal shivering.

I may be the only person whose experience wasn’t great because as I said, the whole place was filled by the time we left.  But overall, it didn’t inspire me to go back again anytime soon.

Kid friendly: Yes/No. It was casual and there was a child there when we arrived, but there is no children’s menu and the food may be a bit scary for some kids.

Methods of payment: Cash or credit.

Related Links: Journal & Courier Article

Restaurant Name: Silver Dipper

Location: 201 E State St. West Lafayette, IN (map it)
Phone: 765-743-7511
Hours: 1-11 daily

Cuisine: Dessert

Review: I’m ashamed to admit the frequency with which I have the opportunity to review this establishment, so let’s just say I’m qualified to review it. This is hands down the best ice cream in Lafayette. One of the things I dislike about chains like DQ is that they no longer have real ice cream, it’s all machine made soft serve in your choice of chocolate or vanilla. When I want ice cream, I want real ice cream, scooped onto a cone. Something with serious flavor that melts in my mouth. I want to be able to walk around and see all my choices, and I want choices. I want to have difficulty making up my mind.

So when I found out about the Silver Dipper, I was pretty stoked. Not only is it a local establishment (which I love!) but the owner is exceptionally friendly (he knows my kids by name). The place is very clean with ample seating and benches outside if you prefer to eat it outside. They have ever flavor you could ever want, to be served in every available kind of cone, and they can also do shakes, sundaes, and more.

Kid friendly: Yes.

Menu Recommendation: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream in a dish

Related Sites: Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream

Note: The Silver Dipper does not accept credit cards, so remember to bring some cash.